Daily Caller: Cut Trillions, Not Billions, Mr. President

After two years, the Obama Administration may finally acknowledge the 800 pound gorilla in the room – a monstrosity that can no longer be ignored. This afternoon, President Obama will speak to the American people about his plan to cut America’s $14 trillion national debt. The question is whether the Obama Administration will take the serious policy steps necessary to curb our fiscal crisis – a crisis that the Congressional Budget Office believes will sink the U.S. economy into an economic abyss by 2037 – or if it will continue the culture of indulgence, preferring to take the easy way out and kick the can down the road for the next generation.

As with other “important” speeches, President Obama will use phrases such as “let me be clear,” and “taking a scalpel to the budget,” when he does not want to offer specifics on what or how much he would cut to bring down our $14 trillion debt. Mr. President, with all due respect, let US be clear: a debt that gargantuan must be cut with a chainsaw, not a scalpel. We’re talking trillions, not billions!

While the President and his party grumbled at cutting $38.5 billion in the 2011 budget compromise (to put this in perspective, in the eight days it took to reach that deal, the national debt increased by $54.1 billion), Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) has offered a budget that would cut $6.2 trillion over the next decade. The introduction of Rep. Ryan’s budget plan, entitled “Path to Prosperity,” is a seminal moment in the debt debate. For the first time in generations a clear plan has been produced to rein in the debt and reform entitlement spending.

The Obama Administration’s own Fiscal Year 2012 budget, released just two months ago, does not mention any meaningful entitlement reform at all. In fact, at the time, President Obama said that it was not his place to offer a plan to bring down America’s debt, and said, “…if you look at the history of how these deals get done, typically it’s not because there’s an Obama plan out there.” That statement crystallizes the lack of fiscal leadership President Obama has displayed during his two plus years as President.

Read the full op-ed here